| (Aug. 9, 2021, 6:05 p.m.) -- In an email to LBUSD staff obtained by LBREPORT.com, Superintendent Jill Baker says all LBUSD staff must provide proof they're vaccinated against COVID 19 or undergo weekly COVID 19 tests when (under a plan announced by Baker but not discussed or given voted approval to date by LBUSD's elected school board) LBUSD schools are scheduled to reopen on Aug. 31.
"As part of the community wide effort, and in order to do everything that we can to maintain the health and safety of our staff and students, we will be requiring all staff to provide proof of vaccination or participate in weekly COVID testing when school starts this year, Baker said in an Aug. 9 email to LBUSD employees and continues: In the next week, our team will be communicating all of the details on how we'll communicating [sic] all of the details on how we'll manage this safety measure alongside educating our 70,000 students and we will be working with TALB [teachers union] and CSEA [other school employee union] to ensure that any association concerns are addressed. LBUSD has no announced plan to require parents of students age 12 and above -- whose children can currently obtain the COVID 19 vaccine -- to provide proof that their children are vaccinated or will be required to undergo weekly COVID testing as conditions of enrollment. For years, LBUSD and other school districts have required proof of vaccination for smallpox, polio and other contagions as conditions of enrollment. In the coming days, the FDA is expected to formally approve all or some of the COVID-19 vaccines currently allowed under an emergency authorization. To LBREPORT.com's knowledge, none of LBUSD's elected School Board members (who are supposed to set policy) have publicly voiced reservations about Baker's announced plan -- with no School Board agendized discussion or voted approval to date -- to reopen schools on August 31 despite the highly infective and aggressive Delta variant and COVID case surge without a publicly detailed alternative for parents who don't want to put their children in an unvaccinated student classroom environment for now. On its website LBUSD has said it will offer an "independent study" option on terms it hasn't yet disclosed and plans an Aug. 16 webinar to brief parents on its currently undetailed "independent study" option. Further to follow. |      |
